Apparatus for casting ribbons of gelatin and the like



June 30, 1953 E, MOUL 2,643,416

APPARATUS FOR CASTING RIBBONS OF GELATIN AND THE LIKE Filed March 5, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 //v l/ENTOR EEX E. MouLE A TTO ENE R. E. MOULE June 30, 1953 Filed March 5, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 5 my aw w 2 (JIM T O N a 4 x M 4 III E T 4 w T 5 MW 0 H (A e 4 .v 1 a GM M- B w i 5 w 0 O W a a h 8 (J id 2 I 2 I I I IEI I WHM q z; 2 w H J m a E m\ m m. z 0 M a Q Patented June 30, 195 3 APPARATUS FOR CASTING RIBBONS OF GELATIN AND THE LIKE Rex E. Moule, Holden, Mass., assignor to Norton Company, Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application March 5, 1949, Serial No. 79,743

2 Claims. 1

The invention relates to encapsulating apparatus and with regard to its more specific features to apparatus for casting ribbons especially of elatin.

One object of the invention is to provide an efficient apparatus for congealing gelatin or other liquid to make ribbons thereof. Another object of the invention is to provide efficient apparatus for steadily removing the heat-supplied to a rotating metal drum whereby a liquid flowed onto such drum will become -a ribbon. Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus of the type indicated which will operate efficiently under various climatic changes and varying conditions of heat and humidity. Another object of the invention is to provide a simple and economical apparatus for keeping cool the casting drums of an encapsulating machine.

Other objects will be in part obvious or in part pointed out hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of various possible embodiments of the mechanical features of this invention,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a capsulating machine having incorporated therein apparatus according to the present invention, certain mechanism of the capsulating machine being omitted.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 'l. V

Figure 3 is a fragmentary elevation of the rear of the machine.

Figure 4. is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 44 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view through the axis of one of the tanks for the ribbon forming material.

Apparatus according to the present invention may be applied to many kinds of capsulating machines but as an illustrative embodiment of the application of the invention I will describe a particular machine, omitting however, those mechanisms which have no direct connection or association with the apparatus of the present invention.

Referring now to Figure 1, the machine has a base plate In which is braced by angle irons H and supported by legs 12 resting on a floor indicated by the dot-dash line I3. Extending upwardly from the base plate I 0 and supported thereby is a large plate l4 which has front and rear vertical plane surfaces and serves as a support for many of the machine elements. A sheet metal casing 15 of inverted U-shape extends upwardly from either side of the base plate Ill and covers the sides and the top of the machine but not the front and the rear, all as clearly shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3. This casing I5 is further braced by legs [6 at the front and rear of the machine, extending vertically from the base plate l0 to the underside of the top of the casing l5.

Referring now to Figure 3, an electric motor has a casing which is rigidly connected to a casing having variable speed reducing mechanism 21 which drives a shaft 22 on which is a sprocket gear 23 driving by means of a sprocket chain 24 a sprocket gear 25 on a shaft 25. The shaft 26 extends into a casing having a speed reducing mechanism 21 from which extends an output shaft 28 on which is a sprocket gear 29 driving by means of a sprocket chain 30 a sprocket gear 3| on a shaft 32.

The shaft 32 extends into another casing having a speed reducing mechanism 33 which likewise has an output shaft 34 on which is a sprocket gear 35 driving by means of a sprocket chain 36 a sprocket gear 31 on a shaft 38.

The shaft 38 is journalled in a round portion 40' of and connected to a casing 4| which in turn is bolted to a casing 42. In the round portion 40 is a worm, not shown, which meshes with a worm wheel in the casing 41 likewise not shown. A shaft, not shown, upon which the worm wheel is fixed extends into the casing 42 in which is further gear reducing mechanism driving an output shaft 50. Thus between the motor 20 and the shaft there are four speed reducing mechanisms the casings 21,33 and 42 are shown as bolted to the top of the base plate 10 while the casing 2| may be secured to the underside of the base plate It. Detailed illustration of the gearing in these speed reducing mechanisms would seem to be superfluous since many types of speed reducing mechanisms are available on the market and the construction of such has nothing to do with the present invention.

Secured to the shaft 50 is a sprocket gear 5i which, by means of a chain 52 drives a sprocket gear 53 (Fig. 2) on a shaft 54. Secured to the shaft 54 is a sprocket gear 55 which, by means of a sprocket chain 56 drives a sprocket gear 5? on a shaft 58. The chain '56 is crossed so that the shafts 54 and 58 are rotated in opposite directions, but at the same speed because the gears 55 and 5'! are of the same size. By reason of all the speed reducing mechanism and the difference in size of the gears 5| and 53, the shafts 54 and 58 turn very slowly taking from approximately one minute to sixteen minutes for one revolution.

"Referring now to Figures 1 and 2, the shafts 54 and 58 extend between journals 60 and the plate I4; they are also journalled in the latter. The journals 60 are supported by inverted U- shaped brackets 6| that are bolted to the base plate I0. Referring now to Figure 4, keyed to the shaft 54 is the hub 64 of a disc wheel 65 to the periphery of which is secured a metal cylinder 66, these parts together therefore forming a cylindrical drum wheel the front of which is closed but the back of which is open. On the shaft 58 is an identical cylindrical drum wheel the parts of which, where they are shown, being identified by the same numbers in Figures 1, 2 and 3.

Referring now to Figure 1, supported by the top of the casing I are a pair of tanks 10 for storage and delivery of the material in a liquid state which is to form the ribbons, this material being, in an illustrative example, gelatin. Pipes 1| extend into the bottom of the tanks I0 and have hand controlled valves 12 for allowing the liquid to flow, from time to time and as desired, into spreader boxes 13. These spreader boxes 13 may be of any usual or desired type for machines of this class. They allow a thin ribbonlike film of liquid to flow out upon the rotating wheels 66 through a rectangular orifice. The wheels 66 are cooled as will hereinafter be described and consequently the liquid, for example gelatin, congeals to a flexible solid thereby forming ribbons. The thickness of each ribbon can be varied by adjusting the vertical dimension of the orifice. Such spreader boxes are known in the art so need no further description herein and particular examples thereof may be found in U. S. Patent No. 2,379,831 and Patent No. 2,292,760. These spreader boxes 13 are held in position by the plate I4 but they rest upon the drum wheels 66.

Referring to Figure l, the ribbons 80 are removed from the drums 66 by ribbon take-off rollers 6| rotatably mounted on spindles 82 and rotated by belts 63 which are driven by combination gear and pulley members 84, the gear portions of which are in engagement with gear teeth 85 (Fig. 4) formed on the rear edges of the surfaces of the drums 66. The combination gear and pulley members 84 are journalled on spindles 86 secured to and projecting forwardly from the plate I4.

Still referring to Figure 1, attached to and extending forwardly from the plate I4 are a pair of open top receptacles 90 which may contain oil, water, alcohol, carbon tetrachloride or anything else which will serve the purpose of lubrieating the ribbons 80 depending on the material which is being cast into ribbons. These receptacles 90 may also contain electric heating elements 9| to keep the liquid in the receptacles 90 at such temperature as will heat the ribbons 80 to the optimum for encapsulating. As will be further described in detail, the drums 66 are continuously cooled and indeed they are continuously removing heat from the gelatin or other material which flows out of the spreader boxes I3, and by being cooled, forms the ribbons 80. Consequently, as the ribbons 80 move into the receptacles 90, they are below room temperature (assuming that the room where the machine is located is warm enough for comfortable working conditions) and by the continuous passage of ribbons through the receptacles 90 the liquid therein is being cooled; wherefore in order to raise the temperature of the ribbons 80 somewhat to the optimum temperature for encapsulating, I may provide the electric heating elements 9| to provide a continuous fiow of heat (in small amount) to the liquid in the receptacles 90. However in the case of some materials and under some conditions I find it advisable to cool the liquid in the receptacles 96 instead of heating it. The ribbons are guided into and out of the receptacles by means of rollers 95, 96 and 91 all of which are rotatably mounted, the rollers 95 and 97 extending between lugs 98 and 99 respectively, there being two pairs of each, mounted on the front and back ends of the receptacles 90, and the rollers 96 being journalled in the end walls of the receptacles 9|.

After leaving the rollers 91, the ribbons 80 pass over guide rollers WI and then down between grooved tube forming rollers I02 which bring the ribbons 80 together and form them into tubes around a plurality of vertically extending arbor or mandrel pipes not shown which deliver filling material to the tubes thus formed which is the materialin the capsules made by the machine. These rollers I02 are positively rotated and are journalled in a frame I03 secured to the plate I4. Below the rollers I02 are tube and capsule forming dies I05 which are mechanically reciprocated and there may be one pair or two pairs of these. Below the dies I05 are stripper members I01 and below these are intermittently operated take-up rollers I08. All of this mechanism for forming the capsules is diagrammatically illustrated herein, the details being not shown since they form no part of the present invention and are fully disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 48,912 filed September 11, 1948, now Patent No. 2,549,327 of April 17, 1951, a continuation of my application Serial No. 538,761 filed June 5, 1944 now abandoned. Since the present invention is concerned with apparatus for casting ribbons and for bringing them to the right condition for encapsulating operations, I do not deem it necessary fully to describe and illustrate the specific encapsulating mechanism herein since this may be varied at will.

The strippers I0! which may be of any suitable type remove the capsules IIO from the joined ribbons 80 which are now full of holes. The double perforated ribbon III moves downwardly where it is collected in any suitable box, not shown, and eventually is re-melted and charged into the tanks I0. There may be a long slot through the base plate In to permit passage of the double perforated ribbon III.

The capsules I I0 fall into wire trays I I5 which are removably located in open top tanks II6 resting on and secured to the top of the base plate I0. In each tank H6 is a suitable liquid, preferably an oil such as kerosene, and this as will hereinafter be explained is cooled to a temperature which will usually be somewhat below 60 F. Dropping the capsules H0 into a cooled liquid has several advantages; in the first place it keeps the vitamins in the capsules from detericrating by reason of being too warm, it being known that many vitamins lose their efficacy if they are not kept cool, and in the second place it preventsgood capsules from being contaminated with the occasional capsule, perhaps one in many thousands, which breaks open and spills the liquid therein. The filling material for many capsules will stick to the outside of the capsules so tenaciously that it cannot be removed in any practical manner but if all the capsules immediately drop into an oil bath, no filling material can stick to the outside surface of any capsule.

Furthermore certain water soluble vitamins often discolor or dull the capsules by eating part way through the gelatin shell or even penetrate the shell completely. If the capsule, when first made, is dropped into a cold oil, the gelatin shell is quickly hardened to a strong and resistant condition capable of resisting the solvent action of such water soluble vitamins.

Still referring to Figure l, I provide a refrigerating unit I29 which may be located anywhere, such as in the basement of the building or on top of the sheet metal casing I5 or elsewhere, being shown in the drawing as under the floor I3. This refrigerating unit I29 comprises a compressor l2I having a pulley I22, driven by a belt I23 from a motor I24 driving a fan I25 which blows air through a radiator I26, all of the above resting upon a suitable base I21 which also supports a tank I528. The motor IN is conveniently an electric motor energized by any power usually available in shops. Any suitable fluid may be used in the refrigeration system but preferably one whose boiling point and latent heat characteristics are such as to make for efliciency, for example dichlor-difluor-methane.

This fluid, such as dichlor-diiiuor-methane, returns to the unit I29 through a pipe I39 in the form of a gas, and it is compressed by the compressor I2I (a cylinder containing a piston operated by crank and connecting rod and having the usual check valves) and is exhausted through a pipe ISI now in the form of a hot gas under compression and then enters the radiator lit and works toward the bottom whereupon, due to cooling to not much above room temperature, it becomes a liquid and enters the tank i21 which is connected to the bottom of the radiator I29, this being a radiator like the familiar automobile radiator.

pipe connection I93 is connected to the tank IIZS and to this connection I33 is connected a pipe valves; the pipe ltd is connected by a T-union its to a pair of pipes I36 and H31. The pipe It? leads to an expansion valve I36 which drops the pressure and causes th liquid to change partly into gas. The pipe I36 leads to another T-union 539 which is connected to a pipe I49 and a pipe MI the former leads to an expansion valve and the latter leads to an expansion valve its each of which may be the same as the valve I38 and each of which causes the pressure to drop and therefore changes the liquid partly into gas.

From the expansion valve I42 the fluid, now partly liquid and partly gas, goes by way of a pipe to a coil Ids inside of the left hand.

drum wheel 96 and similarly from the expansion valve t lt the fluid goes by way of. a pipe I91 to a coil. its inside of the right hand drum wheel 6%, these coils I36 and I98 being of the same construction. As shown in Figure 4, the coil its (and therefore also thecoil I98) has many convolutions and fits inside the drum wheel near the cylindrical portion 66 thereof. Thev coils and I9? are supported partly by the pipes and Id? and partly by exhaust pipes I49 and I59 respectively. and partly'by. brackets I51 as illustrated in Figure 4, these brackets I5I being secured to the plate I4.

From the expansion valve I38 the fluid goes by way of a pipe I65 to a coil I56 in the left hand tank II? and thence by a pipe I51 to a union I58 to a pipe I59 and into a coil I66 in the right hand tank H9.

IS to conduct the fluid, now liquid, to

The exhaust pipes I 49 and I56 are connected to a T-union I65 which is connected by a pipe I66 to a T-union I61. which is connected by a pipe I68 to a constant pressure valve I69 which is connected by a pipe I16 to a union I1I which is connected by a pipe I12 to a T-union I13 which is connected to the pipe I36. Similarly the coil I6!) is connected to an outgoing pipe I15 which is connected to a T-union I 16 which is connected by a pipe I11 to a constant pressure valve I18 which is connected by a pipe I19 to a union I56 which is connected by a pipe I'8I to the T-union I13.

- The latent heat-of vaporization causes the fluid in the system to drop to a very low temperature after passing the expansion valves I38, I92 and I43 and in the coils H6, I48, I56 and I66 the fluid absorbs the heat thus cooling these coils to a low temperature and refrigerating the drums 66 and also the liquid in the tanks II6; thereby the fluid itself becomes hotter and being new all gas flows at a steady rate through the valves I69 and I18 back to the intake pipe I 39. I may provide looped by-pass pipes I65 and I86 between the unions I61 and ill in the case of the by-pass I and between the unions I16 and I96 in the case of the by-pass I96 which may be opened by turning bolts I91 and I68 respectively, these by-pass pipes being used if the constant pressure valves I69 and I18 or either of them break down.

The expansion valves I62 and I63 are controlled by bulbs I99 and I9! respectively and the expansion valve I39 is controlled by a bulb I92, these bulbs being connected by capillary pipes I9 3, I95 and I96 respectively to the valves M2, I 13 and I96. The bulb I96 is strapped to the pipe M9, the bulb I9I is strapped to the pipe I96, and the bulb I92 is strapped to the pipe I15 and the temperature of these pipes near the refrigerating coils causes gas in the bulbs and in the capillary pipes to operate the expansion valves so that when the temperature of any bulb rises, the valve to which it is connected by the capillary pipe opens a little wider. The details of construction of the expansion valves as well as of constant pressure valves for use in refrigerating systems is known to the art so need not be further set forth herein. For the optimum casting of gelatin the drums 66 should be maintained at a temperature of between 40 F. and60 F. by the refrigerating apparatus above described.

Successful encapsulating is dependent upon the physical condition of the ribbons 86 especially when these are gelatin ribbons. It has already been mentioned that in the receptacles 99 the ribbons 96 are heated somewhat; preferably they are heated to about room temperature, for example to about 70 F. although in certain casesv they may be cooled instead of heated. Thus the temperature of the liquid in the receptacles 96 may vary between about 50 F. and 80 F.. In order that the ribbons may weld to each other to form capsules, it is desirable that the contacting surfaces of the ribbons be fairly near the melting point of the material, for example in the caseoi' gelatin it is desirable to bring the surface of the ribbons toar-cund 95 F. without heating the ribbons all through. Consequently I may provide strip heaters 299 located between the guide rollers It! and the tube forming rollers I62. In the case of gelatin the surfaces of the ribbons that are to come together should be heated to a temperature of between 85 F. and 100 F. for the best results.

But for the best results the outside surfaces of the ribbons 80 should, when the dies I operate, be no hotter than 80 F. and preferably not above 70 F. Furthermore, it is preferable in the case of most gelatins to have the contacting surfaces of the ribbons Bil as hot as 95 F.

, Another conditioning which I have found to be desirable is the elimination of moisture from the ribbons 89, especially if they are gelatin ribbons and consequently I provide electric fans 20I mounted to blow air against the surfaces of the ribbons at when they are on the drums 66. It will be observed that the sides of the ribbons which are thereby dried are the outsides when they come together.

Referring now to Figure 4, I preferably provide means to assist the transfer of heat from the drums 66 to the coils I46 and M8. To that end electric motors 265 may be supported by brackets 269 secured to the rear of the wall I4 behind the drums 55 and have shafts 29'! extending through the wall It upon which shafts 261 are secured pinion gears 2G8 meshing with ring gears 209 secured to fans 2W having several blades preferably with surfaces about parallel to the axes of the shafts 54 and 58 or radial to such axes to drive the air centrifugally. These fans 2ID have hubs 2I2 which are journalled on the shafts 54 and 58 and located between spacing collars 2I3 and 254 on these shafts. As the fans 2 I 9 are rotated the air inside the drums 66 and between the disc wheels as and the plate It is driven through the coils I49 and I 48 to the inside of the drums 66 thus cooling them, and the air then returns along the surfaces of the discs 65 and then axially to the spaces inside of the blades of the fans 2Ill. The air is thus kept cold by circulation and heat is effectively transferred from the drums iii; to the coils Hi5 and MS. I find that it is desirable to keep this cold air from escaping from or, stated in another way, to keep outside warm air from entering the space enclosed by the drums 66 the wheels 55 and the wall I4, so therefore I preferably provide sealing gaskets 2I5 secured to the wall It and contacting the inside rear edges of the drums 69.

In case the ribbons 89 are of gelatin which is preferred for, many capsules, it should be at a temperature between about 130 F. and 15 F. in the tanks 'IIl so that it may freely flow, so therefore I preferably provide heating means for the tanks II! which may take the form, as shown in Figure 5, of heating elements 229 in a water compartment Hi just outside of the filling material chamber 222 of each tank 19. I may provide a further compartment 223 between the cylindrical outer Wall of each tank 16 and the compartment 22E and this is preferably filled with insulating material. I may further provide a thermostat 22s to regulate the temperature of the water in the compartment 22l as desired. The heating elements 229 as Well as the strip heaters 209 and the heating elements 9| may be modern type strip heaters comp-rising a metal sheath filled with fused magnesia and containing electric heating wires, this type of heating element being now commonly used for electric stoves. Such heating elements may be operated by readily available electric power at 110 volts, 60 cycles. It will be noted from Figure 5 that the chamber 222 is cylindrical and has a bottom 225 which inclines toward the front of the machine. Each pipe TI extends through the bottom of the tank ID to the inside of the chamber 222 at the front thereof in order that the chamber 222 may be completely drained. Readily removable covers 226 are provided for the tanks II] and filling and drain holes, not shown, are provided for the water compartments 22I.

In case it is desired to cool the liquid in the receptacles 99 instead of heating it, the elements 9| are to be deemed to be lengths of pipe connectedon one side to the pipes I45 and I41, and on the other side connected to the pipes I49 and I50.

While I have described refrigerating apparatus of the compressor type it should be understood that other types of refrigerating apparatus which will circulate coolant through the coils I49 and M8 may be used, such as gas absorption refrigerating apparatus.

One application of the invention involves a method of making capsules out of gelatin and water soluble vitamin so therefore, so far as this method is concerned, the ribbons 89 are gelatin ribbons and the filling material is water soluble vitamin or vitamins.

It will thus be seen that there has been provided by this invention an apparatus in which the various objects hereinabove set forth together with many thoroughly practical advantages are successfully achieved.

As many possible embodiments may be made of the above invention and as many changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter hereinbefore set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. In apparatus for casting ribbons of gelatin and the like, the combination with a receptacle to contain the material to be cast, a spreader connected to said receptacle and having an orifice to deliver said material, a casting drum to receive said material and means to rotate said casting drum, of means for cooling said casting drum comprising coils therein, means for circulating coolant through said cells, a rotatable fan inside of said casting drum positioned to drive air through said coils and against the inside of said casting drum, and means to rotate said fan.

2. In apparatus as claimed in claim 1, the combination with the parts and features therein specified, of a plate adjacent to said casting drum, and sealing gaskets connecting the plate to the drum to keep outside air from entering the drum.

REX E. MOULE.

, References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,237,587 Upton Aug. 21, 1917 1,437,808 Jones Dec. 5, 1922 2,296,294 Scherer Sept. 22, 1942 2,349,511 Miller May 23, 1944 2,379,817 Mabbs July 3, 19-45 2,379,831 Scherer July 3, 1945 2,387,747 Cowley Oct. 30, 1945 

